Alone
by Tracy137
Summary: When the Doctor and Rose go to visit Rose's eccentric cousin, they find out more than they bargained for. One Shot. 10thRose. COMPLETE!


**_Disclaimer: I don't own Dr Who or any of its characters. The series is the property of the BBC. So there is no copyright infringement intended, nor do I intend to tick anyone off – so please don't sue me, I'm poor enough already! But I do own the story itself and the characters of Jess and non-Dr Who types…. :O)_**

**_This is my first Dr Who fanfic. It is based on the tenth doctor (David Tennant) and the second series as well as my own (twisted) imagination! Its just a one-shot and I do not intend to rip off any other writer so if this premise has been done before I'm sorry, I just hope mine is different enough for it not to be too boring. But if I digress from the series too much don't shoot me as I'm old, and the brain (what little I have) is not what it used to be! LOL!_**

_**If you've read any of my other stuff and liked it, hopefully you'll like this too.**_

**_WARNING: BAD LANGUAGE AND VIOLENCE, SO READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL. _**

_**All reviews, and constructive criticism, gratefully received – but no flaming please; and I will try to update regularly.**_

'—' _**signifies thoughts.**_

"—" **signifies speech.**

_**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**_

ALONE: THE VISIT  


Rose stepped out the Tardis, dragging a reluctant Doctor behind her. "Look, she's my cousin, sort of – we're here, so we got to visit; do _you_ want to tell my mum we didn't?"

"What do you mean _sort of?_"

"Well, we're not blood related or anything – her uncle married my aunt." Rose grinned at the horrified look on his face.

"How many of your relatives have I got to bloody meet!"

"Just Jess, don't panic – she's all alone now, 'cept for her little girl" Rose suddenly looked sad "she's lost a lot, yet she always keeps going…..don't know that I could." She brightened "anyway, she's mad so _you'll_ like her."

"Oi! I don't like what you're implying!" but he grinned and went along with it – as if he wouldn't, he'd refuse her nothing; never had really, too scared she'd leave him.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Jess heard the knock on the front door and staggered out of bed; she had a rotten cold and looked awful. But on peering out of the window and seeing Rose waving excitedly up at her she grinned and, throwing on some clothes, shot downstairs.

"Hey Rose! God, you look _great_! Who's this? He's nice, new boyfriend? What happened to Mickey, finally get fed up playing second fiddle to footie? How's your mum, still nagging? God if it was an Olympic sport Jackie'd get gold every time!"

She rattled off the questions, not waiting for an answer as she hustled her grinning young cousin and the Doctor into the house; and he decided he liked her…..a lot. She _was_ mad, but nice mad.

"Heard from mum?" Rose asked once they were all sat down.

"No, not for a while, thank God; she could nag a saint to death I swear….and I usually do where she's concerned." The two females laughed, and the Doctor realised that theirs was a friendship borne out of long association.

"You've not always lived up North then?"

Jess glanced at him and smiled warmly "no, Londoner me; though me accents a bit hybrid now – moved up here when me granddad took sick. Rose weren't happy, were you Rosie – how old was you then?" she looked to her cousin.

"Ummm, about 15 I think – I didn't half miss you. She used to baby-sit me and everything didn't you? While mum worked or went out."

"Yeah, well being older helped – she looked at the Doctor "they don't call me Methusela for nowt!" she chuckled "tea? Always fix everything with a nice cuppa tea!"

The Doctor grinned as she bustled off "I like her Rose, she _is_ mad _and_ she likes tea!"

Rose laughed "I told you you would; she's brill is our Jess."

"Strange house this" he mused looking around "much bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside."

"Yeah, it's magic!" Jess grinned coming back carrying three steaming mugs and a packet of biscuits tucked under her arm "well that's what granddad would say anyway. But I love it, I really do – never move me, never sell up I wouldn't." she smiled and shook her head "I know this sounds mad, but I think it likes me too – always feels…..happy this house. My little 'un loves it here n'all."

She offered the biscuits "cuppa's too wet without 'em!"

The Doctor grinned "I know what you mean; are they ginger nuts – they're my favourites!"

"Yeah and mine, my granddad loved 'em too – dad used to say apparently I took after him more'n anyone else in the family. Said it was like all his madness had skipped me dad and his brother and I got the lot! I think that's why l love this house so much….it's odd, just like me."

"I feel the same about my place." He glanced round again "bet it takes some decorating?"

"Not really – funny thing is, I no sooner start than it's done" she chuckled "almost like the walls shrink to accommodate my horrible slapping on of paint! Not that I've done much to be honest" she looked around the room lovingly "I kind of like it the way granddad left it."

Rose looked at Jess a bit more deeply this time "have you dyed your hair again?"

Jess shook her head "nope – car accident…..you know when Joe died" she looked at the Doctor "he was my husband."

She turned back to Rose "came round and hair was ginger and eyes blue….." she sighed "I was really used to the blond hair and green eyes. Still, not the first time is it?"

"What do you mean?" The Doctor was suddenly interested and even Rose had warning bells ringing in her head, though it had never occurred to her before.

"Apparently when I was five my parents were killed in a train crash and I was seriously injured. You might say 'mortally wounded' if you wanted to be theatrical." She smiled sadly "anyway granddad said I had brown hair and hazel eyes back then, but when they took all the bandages off I was blond haired and green eyed and raring to go. I should've died too see, but instead I recovered in half the time they expected."

The Doctor took a moment then asked quietly "how did they explain it?"

"They said it was some kind of shock thing; after the last time when Joe" she stopped and took a deep breath "after he died three years ago when a drunk driver hit us, they said that it was most likely a genetic 'glitch' that's triggered by shock.

You know, like some people go grey almost overnight? Well, my eyes are similar; though they think that was just a mistake by the nurse, she wrote green instead of blue….I didn't say owt but it weren't, they were definitely green before." She smiled "granddad said though, "people won't like us if they find out we're a bit different – folk don't like different see." So I do as he bid me, I keep quiet."

The Doctor sat regarding the woman before him; she smiled "what's your name? Where you come from? Are you local? How do you meet our Rosie? What do you think of Mickey, nice but dopey ain't he?" Once again the questions were rattled off thick and fast, but he answered just as quickly.

"Just call me Doctor; far away; not really; in the basement of the shop where she worked; alright, but yeah a bit dopey – he's nice enough though."

To Rose it was like watching a double act and she had to chuckle.

Without thinking the Doctor had got out his sonic screwdriver and was holding it up to the wall.

Jess grinned and went muttering and rummaging around various drawers and cupboards and, once again, Rose was reminded of the Doctor. Finally she held something up triumphantly "_Got it!"_

Rose sat open mouthed and the Doctor visibly paled as they saw what she had in her hand…………a sonic screwdriver.

Jess was still grinning "I knew I got one of those somewhere! Well, it was me granddad's actually – bloody _brilliant_ it is! I can fix almost anything with it!"

"Tell me about him – your granddad" the Doctor asked in a daze.

"Well, he came here years ago – from some war. There was him and three mates; there'd been another, but they think he died trying to end it once and for all. Granddad said he thought he had though coz it all stopped."

She smiled and continued "they went about their business, through World War II and then his two mates decided to settle down; they met three girls see and so granddad joined them.

Well, years passed and they had families and then _they_ had families; time marched on as it does….."

"Did you know them?"

"Oh yeah – they were funny; I liked them though, they were as mad as me and granddad."

"Do you know where they came from?"

"Yeah….when granddad spoke about the war he told me. " She stopped and looked sad "he told some stories; but the saddest was the one was about his people, about the enemy they'd fought and how evil they were. How their friend had sacrificed everything to save everyone else, even their own people.

He said he didn't know how or why _they _survived – his vessel spinning out of control like it was, but they did." She sighed "they were very bitter for a long while you know, _very_ bitter…..they liked their friend a lot, felt they should've all died together."

"Where did they come from?" Rose asked, although she thought she already knew and couldn't understand why she hadn't made the connection before.

"Ummmm…..granddad did say – where was it? Galway; or was it Galloway? No…….it was a G word though…..ummmm…._Gallifrey!_ That was it Gallifrey – never found it on any map though…."

"No" the Doctor smiled sadly "I don't suppose you would."

"Places change though don't they? Byzantine becomes Constantinople and then ends up as Istanbul; nothing stays the same for long."

"No" agreed the Doctor "no, it doesn't." he looked hopefully at her "Where are they now?"

"I'll take you to them." She smiled.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

A little while later the three of them stood at the foot of three graves "time catches us all eventually Doctor doesn't it? Granddad said he found a way to change things, he said by doing that they lived a normal life; got married, had kids, grew old and finally would die. Boring, but normal…..he said he felt their friend would have understood."

"I'm sure he does. How long ago did they die?"

"The first died when I was about 20 and 21 respectively. Granddad died two years ago."

Tears welled and he swallowed them "I should've known they were here." He whispered "why didn't I?"

A small hand snuck into his and he squeezed it; glancing at Rose he gave her a watery smile.

"They had a good life though – but they were different in the end" Jess went on "granddad said they were the last of their kind and that was sad, but they had to change to be able to live."

"Of course, by changing they would have masked their existence." The Doctor looked at Jess, even as he continued to hold Rose's hand "what jobs did they do?"

Jess grinned "they were doctors too – one was a doctor of philosophy, the other was physics and granddad chose history."

"What were they called?"

"Oh they had bloody stupid names if you ask me – probably why they changed them. Let's see if I can remember……..well Edialeve became Edward Ware; Pliavore became Philip Wen; and granddad was Tiorhel and he changed it to Thomas Watt. Course I'm not sure if I'm saying them right – I reckon their parents had a sick sense of humour."

She grinned once more at the Doctor "it was a standing joke that we had Doctors where, when and what – the only one we were missing was Doctor who! I wonder if there was one?"

The Doctor smiled at the three graves "I wonder….."

"I hope not – he'd be all alone now, wouldn't he?"

"No" said Rose "No, he wouldn't – he'd have a……friend, someone who loved him and do _anything_ for him; and one day he'd find that there was someone else who was _almost_ like him….someone he _could_ call family."

The Doctor looked at Rose "I knew you'd be lucky for me Rose Tyler" he murmured and then put his arms round both women "now tell me about your little girl, Jess – is she as mad as us? I should tell you some more about Gallifrey too – and your house…………" he grinned as they wandered off "ever fancied travelling!"


End file.
